A Southampton mum has dressed as an elf for five days straight in a bid to raise money for her autistic son's school.
Hayley Robinson, 44, donned the festive outfit to raise funds for a new water therapy room at Great Oaks School.
The secondary school in Vermont Close is attended by Hayley's 13-year-old autistic son Jack and teaches pupils with a range of complex learning difficulties.
Hayley said she came up with the idea of fundraising and spoke to headteacher Andy Evans about what the school needed.
Hayley said: “I came up with the idea and asked Andy what he thought of it and where he thought the money would be of use. So, he mentioned about the water therapy.
“He said it was a pretty crazy idea but we’re onboard, so I decided to go ahead with it.
“People have been very supportive; they have been generous with donations.
"People found it funny, you’re always going to have a couple of negative people, but I haven’t really experienced anything that bad.”
Hayley setup the fundraiser and has so far raised £241.50 of her £300 goal with Aldi in Millbrook donating 350 candy canes to the pupils.
She added: "I have done a walk around Shirley asked lots of different businesses and handed out little QR codes for them to donate them.
"I run a mother and toddler group and people were asking questions about why I was doing".
“It’s been lots of fun and joys".
Great Oaks School was attended by around 300 pupils at the time of its last Ofsted report.
The water therapy room is expected to help reduce anxiety in pupils and improve concentration and confidence.
Mr Evans, 58, said: “Many of our learners work in a very sensory level so they’re enjoying sensory activities, physical activities and lot of them are motivated by water, but you can’t play outside in this weather.
“So it's about creating somewhere they could explore and learn through play by using the water.
“The room will allow them to be pouring, tipping, filtering water, measuring for some of them.
“For a lot of them will be exploring the water and their properties and help them in that regard.”
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